The backstage plot concerns the murder of two strippers of a New Yorkburlesque theatre and the detection of the killer. A faithful, if sanitized due to the censorship of the time, adaptation of the original novel, although Gypsy Rose Lee, who appears as a character in her own book, is here renamed "Dixie Daisy" (Stanwyck). Michael O'Shea plays her romantic interest, comedian Biff Brannigan, and Iris Adrian portrays a worldly showgirl. Pinky Lee, a burlesque comic in real life, is another notable supporting player, as is Gerald Mohr as villain Louie Grindero. The film depicted as much as censors would allow with respect to precise nature of "bumps & grinds", and slapdash nature of burlesque shows. Songs include "Take it off the E string, play it on the G string", rendered by Stanwyck.